


Of Memories Lyrium Can't Touch

by Elpiniki



Series: Fools for Love and Glory [1]
Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Circle Tower, Circle of Magi, Codex Entries (Dragon Age), Cullen Rutherford in Love, Cullen before Kirkwall, Cullen before the Broken Circle quest, F/M, Internal Conflict, Light Angst, Love Confessions, POV Cullen Rutherford, Poet Cullen, Poetry, Pre-Dragon Age: Origins, Romance, Thedas poetry, Tragic Romance, Unofficial codex entries, Unrequited Love, love poetry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-28 19:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16729662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elpiniki/pseuds/Elpiniki
Summary: The Circle Mages and the Templars:Two orders, both alike in dignity,In troubled Thedas, where we lay our scene,From ancient fears break to new mutiny,Where evil blood makes pious hands unclean.From forth the fatal ranks of these two foesA pair of star-cross'd lovers, a love unseen;Whose misadventured piteous overthrowsDo with their strife expose their peers true sin.The fearful passage of time and death,Marks and crushes, soul and heartAnd upon inhaling their final breathEach believe to be from a whole,a part.----------------A collection of poems written by a Templar for a Mage. The poems were found across Thedas in various places at different times, and reveal a love as powerful as it was forbidden. The memories span through years and years, for some people cannot love less than forever.Yes. The Templar is Cullen. :) And our story starts at Kinloch Hold...-------------------Summary entry is a rewrite of Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' introductory sonnet.It will be featured again in the Warden's first and potentially only poem (she's not very good at it :) ).





	Of Memories Lyrium Can't Touch

**Author's Note:**

> This poem's accompanying soundtrack: [Abel Korzeniowski - And just like that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7mTcZjehJk)  
> The slow pace of the music I link above I think mirrors the pace and emotion of the poem quite well. :)
> 
> My warmest gratitude goes to my lovely Tallulah, for without her encouragement and comments I wouldn't have uploaded anything. She also draw the wonderful Amell/Cullen picture I use as icon. She writes under the name [withah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/withah/pseuds/withah) and as far as I'm concerned, she has written one of the best DA Cullen/Amell stories out there. Please check her out and leave some love. <3

  


### Unofficial codex entry: A Templar’s poem to a Mage

  
_Found near some debris in Kinloch Hold’s library this poem seems to have never reached its recipient._  
_The reader can imagine a young Templar writing it during his night shift, unsure of the words_  
_forming, sitting on the cold stairs of the Hold below a window. The cold biting his entire body._  
_The only sounds are the scratches on the vellum. If the reader tries hard enough can almost see the_  
_Templar’s poor attempts at warming up his hands, moonlight lingering on his golden curls…_

 __  


#### At dawn

Say, one day, I come by your door and knock, at dawn.  
While darkness withdraws from Kinloch Hold.  
Heavy-lidded and languid your body greets mine.  
The sleep dust on your eyes coveted by the library’s most ancient books.  
Maker, how beautiful you will be my love!  
Will you greet me back, I wonder?  
  
Say, one day, you take these coward hands of mine  
to steady yourself within. And I shatter.  
Because everything you hold, you hold it like a weapon.  
A weapon not meant to maim, but to consume.  
And consumed me you have. In body and in spirit.  
Poorer than the poor the Maker becomes minus a Templar.  
Will you regret the sacrifice, I wonder?  
  
Say, one day, as your presence is announced in the corridor I guard,  
you glance at me. Not once, but twice. With enkindled eyes.  
There is nothing but the skin that hums.  
And no eyes in this world were meant to be looked at like yours.  
No eyes. No lips. No wrists.  
Will you open them for me, I wonder?  
  
Say, one day, I find you with nothing but my heart.  
The steel imprisonment I now wear, gone.  
The steel worn to protect me from you.  
Not from your magic, but from your warmth.  
Gone is the knight that became a pawn. It’s still a game.  
Not meant to be played by either. We’re just pieces after all.  
Will you abandon the game for me, I wonder?  
  
Say, one day, there is only the echo of the ferry at the bridge.  
Most tantalising sound ever heard by ears born to cherish  
only the sound of your voice.  
The ferry has room for just the two.  
Suppose we reach the opposite bank.  
Suppose we realise that it was never just a mirage.  
Suppose for the first time we feel free. Suppose.  
  
Say, we travel far and wide. And we call it adventure.  
There is a forest and a house and an apple tree. And we call it world.  
Templars after us lose our scent. And we call it provision.  
Brothers and sisters in oath, but not in drive.  
Not in the way you hold my jaw, my heart, my soul, my everything.  
And yet, I claw at the very fiery sword on my breastplate and my nails break.  
  
Say, one day, we are in a land where all edges are blunt.  
And no blacksmith can this bluntness amend.  
Where we would be alone, but we would have hope.  
Where I’m just a man and you are, well, you.  
Not the Maker’s sin but his utter perfection.  
Where we can touch and smell and taste. All in one breath.  
Would you love me back then Amell, I wonder...  
  


  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. <3  
> This poem is dear to my heart as it's the very first one I wrote in English that was inspired by Dragon Age. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments! :)  
> Subscribe to the series [Fools for Love and Glory](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1194558)  
> if you want to follow this weird girl trying to make Thedas poetic again :P :)


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